Poole's Pilgrimage

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens (Ecc 3:1)

Blessed are those whose hearts are set on pilgrimage (Ps 84:5)

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Lk 18:29-30)

The peace which Christ gives you is to guide you in the decisions you make (Col3:15)

Well, the latest part of Poole's Pilgrimage is now getting quite close as we leave for Norwich in England on 2 November to take up our LORD's call to ministry at Meadow Way Chapel.

Fifty Shades of Grey: My Thoughts

18 February 2015

Dear AMC and wider JohnWesleyProject.com Family,

 There has been a great deal of hype around the book, and especially the film, Fifty Shades of Grey. I haven't read the book or seen the film, but I have followed the press coverage and some blogging on the subject. The church, and especially her preachers, are not given the task of telling people what they should or shouldn't do, other than to preach the message that we are called to live lives that are holy to the Lord and that holy living includes discerning, avoiding and renouncing evil. Our task as preachers of the gospel is more to equip disciples, and perhaps followers, to discern satan's temptations, which, as we all know, can be very subtle. None of us should be behaving the way we do

New Year Pastoral Letter: A Call to Service

New Year, 2015

Dear Alberton Methodist and Worldwide Holey, Wholly, Holy Family

Chris and I truly hope that you have had a blessed Christmas season and that 2015 will be a blessed and prosperous (in the true Biblical meaning of that word) year for you and your loved ones.

Advent Pastoral Letter: A Call to Discipleship

Dear Alberton Methodist and worldwide JohnWesleyProject.com Family,

Happy New Year!

Happy Christian New Year, that is.

The first Sunday of Advent in 2014 is November 30, and we move into Year B of the lectionary. During this year of the three-year lectionary cycle, we will read through Mark's gospel, engage the stories of David's family, and spend considerable time in the epistles of Ephesians, Hebrews and James. In all this, my underlying focus is going to be DISCIPLESHIP. I have two reasons for this: firstly, discipleship is central to the Vision that

Harvest and Thanksgiving Pastoral Letter

Harvest & Thanksgiving Season

Dear AMC and JohnWesleyProject.com family,

At our first meeting this year, one of the Society Stewards brought up the need for us to have a Thanksgiving Service at AMC. I then mentioned that Biblically, Thanksgiving is always linked to Harvest celebrations and that our Methodist Harvest Festival has always been a Thanksgiving service which thanked God for the harvest, but also thanked God for “all good things around us, sent from Heaven above” (the words of our famous Thanksgiving/Harvest hymn). We then realised that AMC hasn't had a Harvest Festival for many years either and committed ourselves to planning a Thanksgiving/Harvest Festival this year. Later we realised that it is the 100^th Anniversary of AMC's Sunday School, so that became an integral part of our celebration plans as well.

I am really very excited that we are having a Harvest/Thanksgiving service at AMC this year and I encourage us all to get involved, firstly at the Combined Worship Service at 9am on Sunday 26 October and then at the Family Fun and Braai which will follow the service. Please note that we are going to be ordering braai packs, so we need to know how many folk will attend the celebration and Fun day, but payment for the braai packs will be voluntary, there will be a box somewhere for folk to make donations to help cover our costs. The idea is that no one will be excluded from this day of Thanksgiving, which will include fun for everyone, games, waterslides etc.

You may not be aware that the 3 most important feasts in Judaism at the time of Jesus, were all festivities relating to thanksgiving at the various stages of harvesting.

  "All the men of your nation are to come to worship the LORD three times a year at the one place of worship: at Passover, Pentecost, and the Festival of Shelters." Deuteronomy 16:16

In this reading God gives to the people three festivals, three celebrations, three feasts that they are to celebrate every year in Jerusalem at the Temple. Now each of these festivals was an agricultural festival celebrating some stage in the harvest process, but, and far more importantly,each festival also had a religious significance as well.

Passover (April 14-22 2014): Passover (which for us now is the Easter celebration of the Lamb of God who was slain and raised to life in order to set us free from bondage to sin) was a reminder and celebration of the redemption from bondage in Egypt, but it also had an agricultural element. Passover ends with the Festival of First Fruits, where the people bought the first part of their harvest as an offering to God in anticipation of a good harvest to come. Jesus was raised from the dead on the day of this festival which is why Paul says in 1Corinthians15:20 "Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep so that in Christ all will be made alive."

Pentecost (June 8, 2014): The next festival mentioned is the Harvest Festival or the Festival of Weeks, as it took place seven weeks after Passover and First Fruits. At the time of Jesus this festival was known as Pentecost which is a Greek word which means "seven weeks".The Jews celebrated the wheat harvest and that God had given them everything they had hoped for when they brought their first fruits. They also remembered on this day the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Pentecost became of course the time when God poured out His Spirit and put His Law into our hearts.

Tabernacles (October 10-15, 2014): The final festival mentioned is the Festival of Tabernacles, and is celebrated at the end of the harvest season, when the grapes and olives have been gathered in. Passover is in early spring, Pentecost is in late spring and the Festival of Shelters or Tabernacles or Booths is in autumn. The Jews at this time remember that during the 40 years in the wilderness they lived in shelters or tabernacles, hence its name. The prophet Zechariah says: "Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty,and to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles." (14:16) This feast seems to look forward to the time when the Kingdom of God will be established on earth in all its fullness at Christ's return. So while we as Christians can  look back and see how God has used two of these festivals for His redemptive purposes and they have in a sense been 'fulfilled', this last one, the feast of Tabernacles,is one which we still look forward to being fulfilled.


So, as you can see, the major festivals of Judaism which Jesus also remembered and celebrated, all included elements of Thanksgiving and Harvest, hence our Methodist practise of combining Thanksgiving and Harvest. Living in the city as we do here in Alberton it is very easy to forget what fields of wheat, maize, sunflower, sugar cane, etc., look like and just how dependant all of these are on the good gift of rain “from above”, so the service also includes an element of praying for rain where it is needed. Folk also bring “items of harvest” and we encourage you to be extra generous in your giving of non-perishables to our Amcare trolley on the 26^th .


The main element, however, is Thanksgiving for what God has graciously given us...food, homes, health, friends, family, work, children, eyesight, taste, etc., etc., etc. Please fill in the slip below, or e-mail the office, with your specific thanksgiving, be it for a new addition to the family, or perhaps that you've managed to stay away from drugs for a week, month, year or years. I am hoping that a spirit of thanksgiving will overpower and consume us as we realise how very much our Lord blesses us day by day. Depending on the response, we will either project the thanksgivings during the service and probably derive our preaching from them, or we will print them up in booklet form for distribution. Please feel free to place anonymous thanksgivings if you wish.


On a more personal note, I will be on sabbatical for the next few weeks (my 3 month sabbatical is due, but I am not taking it all at once). I will be completing my Masters degree at Wits Medical School which I had to put on hold when I was asked to come to AMC a year earlier and then made senior minister earlier than I had expected as well. All my course work was completed in 2011 but I now have to write my thesis. I once again covet your prayers.


Much love,
             Cedric

Spring (in the Southern hemisphere) Pastoral Letter from Cedric, DentalMethodist

September 2014

Dear AMC and JohnWesleyProject Family,

I am aware that the majority of followers of my blog live in the Northern hemisphere, while I live in the Southern hemisphere in sunny, almost all of the year round, South Africa. This picture entitled Autumn vs Spring by Kopczynski-Adam (sourced here) best sums my dilemma as I write for my local congregation here at AMC and my worldwide JohnWesleyProject.com family.

Our Gospel text from the Revised Common Lectionary (followed by churches worldwide) for the first (Southern hemisphere) Sunday in Spring/September is Matthew 18:15-20 and includes the following command of Jesus:

 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

Next Sunday, the second Sunday of Spring, our text includes these words from Peter:

 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

The deepest wounds feel like they'll last a lifetime: The absent mother who robbed you of the mother-daughter bond you craved and deserved. The eighth-grade bully who turned the classroom into a living nightmare. The boyfriend who broke his promises and chose her instead....we each have folk who have hurt us. You feel bitter. You still hold a grudge. But clinging to those betrayals and disappointments, that hurt, is bad for the body and mind. I read an article by a clinical psychologist recently in which he states a truth I think we all know: "It's inevitable that we'll all be hurt by others, and that it will happen often. People have accidents, make mistakes, behave selfishly and even intentionally try to hurt one another. We can't escape it. Forgiveness is a vulnerable act that can feel like it opens us up to more pain. But we need to have a way to process and let go of the effects of injury, or we risk serious physical and emotional consequences."

Indeed, experts say that forgiving those who have wronged us helps lower blood pressure, cholesterol and heart rate. One study found that forgiveness is associated with improved sleep quality, which has a strong effect on health. And Duke University researchers report a strong correlation between forgiveness and strengthened immunity among HIV-positive patients. The benefits aren't just limited to the physical, either: Letting go of old grudges reduces levels of depression, anxiety and anger. People who forgive tend to have better relationships, feel happier and more optimistic and overall, enjoy better psychological well-being.

It is no wonder that Jesus speaks so often and so authoritatively on the subject of forgiveness, but my experience is that this is one area where we as disciples of Christ often choose to not let His word have authority over us. The result of this sin leads to much conflict in families, workplaces and of course, in the church. I often find that for most of us it hurts more when we are hurt in the church, because we believe that this is meant to be a safe place. I have seen in the lectionary readings for the next two weeks a God-given opportunity for us to submit to the authority of the Word and, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, ask Him who we need to forgive, who we need to ask forgiveness from, and then ask for His grace to do these in a way that helps His Kingdom to come and His will to be done in our homes, workplaces and church. To help us in this I've included a series of devotions, which while aimed at leaders, speak to each of us as individuals as well. Please consider using them over a five day period soon. I look forward to testimonies of how extending and asking forgiveness changes anger, bitterness and resentment into the beautiful (Spring) fruit of the Spirit.

Much love and grace and peace to us all in the LORD Jesus Christ, 

                       Cedric

Pentecost: Have we lost the plot?

Pastoral Letter from Cedric,the DentalMethodist

Pentecost 2014

Dear JohnWesleyProject.com Family,

As I prepare for Pentecost I have the following text in my mind:........“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”  By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.........but as I have spent time with this text I find myself wondering if we the church, or we as individuals, haven't lost the plot somewhere along the line. God's answer to sin was the call of Abraham, leading to a family, to a tribe, to a nation, to Jesus, to a Kingdom, to the church (people) upon whom the Spirit has been lavished...........but, going back to the call of Abraham, we are blessed in order to be a blessing to others.....rivers of living water will flow from within them.....

 but, this is what God's called people often looked like......and look like today

......more of this on Sunday.....

My last Pastoral letter was written at Easter and I spoke about the Season of Easter (The Great Fifty Days) which now comes to an end on the Day of Pentecost. Next week is Trinity Sunday which functions as the “opening bookend” for the Season after Pentecost. (The “closing bookend” is Christ the King Sunday on 23 November this year, the Sunday before Advent.) This Season accounts for roughly half of the entire liturgical year. Why do we devote so much time to this Season? Because discipleship to Jesus is far more than about preparing for discipleship, whether in terms of learning the basic practices (Advent and Lent) or celebrating and learning key doctrines (Christmas Season and Easter Season). This season is primarily about responding to His call to discipleship and living as His disciples in the world in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Next week is Trinity Sunday and, as I said above, the opening bookend of this season, and I want to spend some time in this pastoral letter looking at this central doctrine of the Christian church, The Trinity. The Christian teaching that God is One in Three and Three in One is not a maths, biology, or physics problem to be solved, but a mystery into which we are invited to live and move and have our being. Now, the next paragraph may sound like a load of gobbledeegook, so you can leave it out if you want to :-)

(Gobbledeegook begins)

As I said, the Christian teaching that God is One in Three and Three in One is not a maths, biology, or physics problem to be solved, but a mystery into which we are invited to live and move and have our being.That may sound like a cop-out to people who expect Christianity to offer the same kinds of answers one might expect from maths or biology or physics. But even physics, which has been the most empirical of the sciences, has been forced by the facts of our universe to embrace a certain degree of uncertainty at its core. Newton’s models described physics very well on the level of creatures our size. But when we move to the scales of the nano or the micro, Newtonian mechanics seems no longer to apply in the same way. Probabilities replace observable certainties, some of what was once understood to be impossible is now seen to be the only plausible explanation: for example, light can be a particle or a wave at the same time, all depending not on light, but on the observer. A change in orbit of an electron on one side of the universe can alter the orbit of an electron on the other. And the universe itself is understood to consist primarily of something called “dark energy,” (try googling that), a something we can barely explain and only infer as an explanation for why gravity has not stopped the universe from continuously accelerated expansion. Mystery abounds in what science now routinely considers plausible (enough gobbledeegook, which I have sourced mainly from the General Board of Discipleship, let's get back to the Trinity).

(Gobbledeegook ends)

As Christians, we claim the mystery we embrace about the Triune nature of God is not only plausible, but true. Further, we consider the doctrine of the Trinity to be a first order truth. That is, Trinity is not a conclusion we come to based on other truths. Instead, we embrace it as firmly as we embrace the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, or His resurrection and ascension, or, as we celebrated this week, the coming of the Holy Spirit with power. The doctrine of the Trinity is, for us, foundational to everything we know or may ever come to know about God, one another, and even the universe.

Starting the week after Trinity Sunday, the Revised Common Lectionary provides three distinctive pathways to follow and during the season of Pentecost 2014, we will spend time in each of these three pathways.The Old Testament readings trace the story of Abraham and Sarah and three generations of their descendents: Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. The Epistle readings carry us in depth into Romans. And the Gospel picks up in the middle of Jesus' earthly ministry and leads us to its end, beginning with the reminder for all of us in our discipleship and ministries that “A disciple is not above the teacher… it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher” (Matthew 10:24-25).

As always, it is my prayer that through the preaching and teaching from the pulpit of the JohnWesleyProject.com, we, preacher and congregation alike, will all grow in grace, love and holiness.

Much love, 
            Cedric

Your Prayer and Your Vote: A Kingdom Perspective

As our nation goes to the polls tomorrow, let us remember the first election recorded in the New Testament:

Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles. 

Acts 1:21-26

In these verses we verses we have the first election process requiring a vote that is recoded for us in the New Testament. Notice what they did before the elections......they prayed.

How on earth do we pray?

Do we even bother to pray when it seems almost a foregone conclusion who will win?

If we support the party which “will” win, how do we resist feeling insignificant?

If we do not support that party, how do we resist feeling hopeless?

Prayer is incredibly important, not only because an election affects the lives of every citizen whether we support the ruling party or not, but also because governments can be, (they are not always), but they can be powerful agents of God’s Kingdom breaking into the world. Therefore we must pray – we have a duty to pray.

I have no authority to tell you who to vote for, but I have a duty to try and teach us how to pray.

My point of departure is that my readers are people who believe and know that the Spirit of God is present and moving amongst us. With that as our starting point we need a vision, an idea of what it is that we hope for, and I want to suggest the following:

The rebirth of South Africa as a nation transformed not simply by new political structures, but by the power of God’s Spirit and by a passion (on our part as Christians) to see Christian values, Christian vision, at the heart of our nation.

That’s a vision that I think we can all hope for and pray for.

How can it come about?  The words of the famous first Chancellor of the German Empire, Otto Von Bismarck, are relevant:

“A statesman must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment” 

Has this happened before – is it too much to hope for? As always, we begin in the Word:

In another small nation, many years ago, God decided that what Israel needed was a new kind of leadership.  The old discredited leadership under Saul had singularly failed the people, leaving them divided, discouraged and disillusioned. It was a defining moment. Few people at the time, if any, could have foreseen the long-term consequences. A new leadership under David was raised up to unify the divided people, to bring hope to the discouraged people, to offer at long last credible, godly leadership to a disillusioned people and all this is recorded in Scripture. Their task under this God-given leadership was to hear the steps of God, fulfil the purpose of God in their generation and thus restore the Glory of God to the land following many wasted years characterised by sleaze and sin. Central to that purpose was a small but significant grouping, a prophetic task force, the men of Issachar, gifted with spiritual discernment and thus able to bring at this critical time spiritual direction. They understood the times.They knew what it was God was calling them to do (1 Chronicles 12:32). We Christians are called, equipped and empowered to be today's people of Issachar.

So, by faith we see it’s possible, if it happened in the Bible, it can happen today.  That belief is what makes us the Christian FAITH.

How to pray

 Pray for our statesmen and women, maybe even just one to hear the steps of God sounding through events, and then leap up and grab the hem of His garment.

 Pray for a group of people, Christians gifted with spiritual discernment, to gain the respect and the ear of our political leaders in order to give the Spiritual Direction just like the men of Issachar gave Spiritual Direction to Israel’s Leadership.

Pray for the following principles/ideals to be born in our nation and in our rulers:

that people will matter more than things

that parties will matter less than principles

that God will matter most of all

Finally, we need to pray for a new kind of politics.  Jim Wallis, a Christian author, has written “So there is need for a new kind of politics based on a renewed moral perspective.  Central to it will be a new spirituality creating a moral sensitivity that refuses to separate political ideas from their consequences for human beings and for the rest of creation.”  He concludes, “We need a politics that offers something we haven’t had in a long time.  A vision of transformation.”

Please don’t let satan tempt you to believe that this is too much for which to pray and to hope

I said earlier has this happened before and gave an example from the Bible, I want to close with a true story from more recent history.

In Norway in September 1997, Christians prayed and fasted for a God-given leadership and righteous government.  Against all the odds, a new force, a Christian force emerged and a Christian prime minister was elected in Norway. Read more here and here

Only God knows our future, but I find this story encouraging – where prayer and petition have made a Kingdom difference.

Prayer and petition will make a lasting difference but they need to go hand-in-hand, and so let us

pray.

From the Pastor's Desk to Amcare

24 April 2014

Dear Amcare

You may or may not know that the view from my office looks out over Amcare and I often stretch my hands in your direction and ask our Lord to bless you. I write this with love to all of you who give so selflessly in your service to Amcare and therefore to our Lord and the wider community of Alberton. I am deeply aware of the struggles Amcare is constantly dealing with and the personal struggle and difficulties that subsequently affect each of you. Please be assured of my prayers. Below is an extract from a Daily Devotional that I am currently using and I felt it might be a blessing for you today as it has been for me. 

I know how very easy it is to remind folk who are going through difficult times that Jesus is with them. I know that it is often in the difficult times that Jesus seems to us to be furthest away and difficult to reach....I have felt this way sometimes. But I have learnt that that is when He is really the closest. This devotion seems to put this idea into better words than I can, and I hope you are blessed by it.

Much love,

    Cedric

PS for my JohnWesleyProject.com congregation from the DentalMethodist: 

AMCARE was established in 2001 by the Alberton Methodist Church as a community outreach programme. It was decided to provide a Victim Empowerment Programme, comprehensive HIV and Aids services and Skills Development Services. Today, operating independently but in association with the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, AMCARE achieves the seemingly impossible with activities extending from Alberton to Thokoza, Eden Park, Phola Park and the Squatter Camps of Greenfields and Thinazonke

Please visit Amcare for more info

24 April 2014

Psalm31:7  Isaiah40:12   Matthew14:22-30

Trust nothing, yourself least of all; but in Me have that perfect confidence that banishes fear. Remember how many storms I have quieted by a word, making a great calm to follow. Remember how I held up Peter walking on the waters. I am always as near to all people as I was then to him, and as ready to help and comfort in all that is for the good of the soul. Be confident, faithful, courageous;  have no fear for your body and soul, for I am there, loving and all-powerful. Never forget that I am there. In this life the tempest never ceases, and your boat is ever ready to sink. But I am there, and with Me it will never be wrecked.

This devotion is lifted from Celtic Daily Prayer, 

HarperCollins Publishers. 

Buy this excellent resource here

Easter Pastoral Letter from Cedric and JohnWesleyProject.com

Easter 2014 Pastoral Letter from Cedric

Easter....the Great Fifty Days

Many are surprised to hear that Easter is not a single day. It is actually a season that begins on Easter Sunday and continues for seven full weeks. This seven-week cycle is known historically as the Great Fifty Days or the Week of Weeks. During this time, the church celebrates the Lord’s resurrection, His appearances to the disciples after Easter, His post-resurrection teachings, His ascension into heaven, and the disciples’ eager anticipation of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Ascension Day, the 40th of the Great Fifty Days, is frequently commemorated with special worship services and here at AMC we will as usual have a morning service at 10:00 and an evening service at 19:00 on Thursday 29 May.

Easter Day is the principal celebration of the church year. The resurrection means that Christ has overcome death and in His victory has opened to us everlasting life. Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). The Lord’s new life in which we share is the message of this season. As baptized Christians we take time during Easter to ponder the meaning of membership in Christ’s body, the church. We look at events in the church’s life, the sacraments, the accounts of resurrection and the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus to discover their meaning and what they tell us about how we as a community here at AMC are to live the life of the Risen Lord.

Like the two who walked the Emmaus road with Jesus, we can know Christ in the sharing of the word and in the breaking of bread at Communion.

The Great Fifty Days of Easter are the time when we are called to reflect on the meaning of our baptism into the church of Jesus Christ, whenever that baptism might have occurred. Through the lectionary texts (see Easter booklet) we explore the “mysteries” of our faith (a process which the early church called mystagogia).

Our Vision at AMC is to be a community of disciples who grow the Kingdom of God. Historically,the discipling purpose of the Easter Season has been twofold. The first purpose is doctrinal. Easter Season was (and is) a season for mystagog, teaching the “mysteries of the faith” (core doctrinal matters). Second, it is a time to help all to discern, claim or reclaim their spiritual gifts and their calling to ministry in Christ’s name and the Spirit’s power. Easter Season culminates with Pentecost, where we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the commissioning and empowering of the church for ministry. In order to link these historical purposes of the Easter Season with our AMC Vision, the notes for each week include a doctrinal focus (aimed at discipling us) and a ministry focus (aimed at growing the Kingdom of God). What each individual preacher decides to focus on will be up to them as they work through the texts under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but I do encourage you as individuals and as small groups to work through both the doctrinal and ministry notes in your meditations and discussions.

During the season of Easter many Christians around the world pray a prayer called Christ Our Passover which is based on 1 Cor. 5:7-8, Rom. 6:9-11 and 1 Cor. 15:20-22. I shared it with you last year and have often also used it as the “Candle Prayer” here at AMC in my previous Easter Seasons with you. It is a beautiful prayer to pray daily during the Great Fifty Days.

Alleluia.
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast,
Not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Alleluia.

Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
The death that he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
So also consider yourselves dead to sin, and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Alleluia.

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Alleluia.

My last pastoral letter closed with the news that Ryan and Lindrique had decided to accept an invitation to the Kempton Park Circuit from the beginning of 2015. This one will close with a request for your prayers for the Poole family and AMC as my 5 year term here at AMC comes to an end at the end of 2015. It is our normal Methodist procedure that invitations are reviewed during the fourth year of a 5 year invitation. This process is led by the Circuit Stewards and Superintendent in consultation with our Society Stewards and has begun in the last few weeks. Please pray for our Circuit stewards, Society stewards, Chris and me as we all seek God's will for the future.

May this Easter and Easter season be a great 50 days for us all.

Much love to you all, 

Cedric

Lent Pastoral Letter

Lent Pastoral Letter

                                                                  image sourced here

Dear  AMC Family and wider JohnWesleyProject.com congregation,

The cross, O the wonderful cross

What Glory, what victory, I've found

I'll come to the wonderful cross

And my whole life I lay down

These words from The Wonder of the Cross by Robin Mark are a wonderful reminder of one of the reasons for the season of Lent: Over a period of 40 days, starting on Ash Wednesday, we undertake a spiritual journey deep into ourselves but with our eyes focussed on the Cross, and hopefully rediscover or perhaps even discover for the first time, the glory and the victory which are ours because of what Jesus did and then lay our whole lives down for Him again….or, perhaps, for the first time. I really hope that is what Lent 2014 will be for us all at AMC.

Lent is the span of time in the church calendar that starts with Ash Wednesday on 5^th March this year and ends with Easter Sunday, which is on 20^th April. Ash Wednesday commemorates the beginning of Jesus’ 40-day fasting and temptation in the desert, and Easter Sunday commemorates Jesus’ resurrection from the grave after His crucifixion.

Lent, then, is generally observed as a time for Christians to reflect, repent, and pray as a way of preparing our hearts for Easter. It is observed by many different Christian denominations, although not every Christian church or denomination does so. Because Lent is not officially instituted in Scripture, observing it isn’t in any way a “requirement” of Christianity. Nonetheless, Christians from many different backgrounds choose to observe it as a way of focusing their thoughts on Jesus Christ during the Easter season.
How does one observe Lent? It differs from person to person and church to church, but some of the things Christians might do to observe Lent include:

    On the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday is 5^th March and our service will be at 18:30), some Christians mark their foreheads with ash as a symbol of sorrow and mourning over their sin. (See Job 42 for an example of ash used as a symbol of repentance.)

     Some Christians choose to give up a habit or behavior during Lent as an exercise in prayerful self-denial. This might range from something as simple as not drinking your favourite cold or hot beverage during Lent to a full-blown program of fasting.

    Some Christians commit to a special devotional activity during Lent—for example, daily Scripture reading, regular prayer for a specific person or topic throughout Lent, or volunteer work in their community. I am making a booklet available as a Lenten resource called Let Us Hold Fast. If you don’t yet have any specific Lenten devotional material, please contact me at lent@johnwesleyproject.com or, if you don’t have e-mail, phone the office at 011 907 2807 and they will print one for you to collect (ask for normal or large print). There will be some in the Info Stand, but if we can send it to you electronically, it will save a great deal in printing costs. Perhaps you'd like to join the excellent Faith as Wesley Lived it course on Wednesday evenings at AMC for the duration of Lent.

The choice to observe Lent is a personal one—the whole point is to focus your heart and mind on Jesus during the journey to Easter. There’s no requirement to observe it, nor should you feel forced into participating. However, millions of Christians around the world do observe Lent each year; if you’ve never done so, why not give it a try? Whether you observe Lent in a small or major way, you’ll be amazed at what happens when you devote a part of each day to reflecting on Jesus Christ and God’s Word.

The above hymn begins with the following verse:

The wonder of your cross shall be our meditation
To gather in that shadow when the sun went down
To weep with those who thought that you were leaving,
You were leaving, Jesus
The humble King who never wore an earthly crown.

May this season be one of spiritual wonder, spiritual meditation, spiritual gathering, spiritual weeping as we worship the humble King who never wore an earthly crown.

Much, much love,

        Cedric

Pastoral Letter 24 Jan 2014

New Year 2014

24 January 2014

Dear AMC Family,

This is my first opportunity to wish you all a blessed 2014. May it be for all of us a year in which we experience that the LORD blesses and keeps us; makes His face shine upon us and is gracious to us; lifts up His countenance upon us and gives us His peace (Numbers 6:24-26).

Last week we looked at Communion with God through Prayer. Next week, in our Covenant Service, we will look at The Bible as Light on our Way. Today we are looking at Personal Devotion – Daily Quiet Time. Click here for a wonderful format for personal use which was first published by the MCSA in our Faith and Life series in 1986, which I continue to find the most helpful resource for Daily Quiet Time that I have yet come across. Please consider using it as a guide to growing in the area of Personal Devotion in 2014.

Last year, as a result of our Reveal Survey I encouraged us all to embrace a regular Bible reading programme and I want to encourage us all to continue and grow in our commitment to daily Bible reading in 2014. We will once again distribute the OneYearBible readings......watch the Info Stand and remember you can start them at any time.

May we all grow in the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ this year and always,

Much love,

Cedric

Easter Pastoral Letter

Easter 2013

Dear Alberton Methodist and my wider JohnWesleyProject Family,

Alleluia.
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us;
therefore let us keep the feast,

Not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Alleluia.

Christ being raised from the dead will never die again;
death no longer has dominion over him.

The death that he died, he died to sin, once for all;
but the life he lives, he lives to God.

So also consider yourselves dead to sin,
and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Alleluia.

Christ has been raised from the dead,
the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For since by a man came death,
by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die,
so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Alleluia.

This is called the Easter Anthem and is a wonderful prayer to pray daily during the Easter Season, which runs from Easter Sunday until the Sunday of Pentecost. It is based on 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, Romans 6:9-11 and 1 Corinthians 15:20-22. Can I please encourage you to use it in your prayer life? Some congregations have a Paschal Candle which they light each Sunday during Easter Season and if you want to light a candle in your home each day or at special meals and pray this prayer, you will be blessed. You will notice that I've italicised some of it so you can pray it responsively ...parents and children or boys and girls....whatever suits your situation.

Easter Day is the beginning of the season, not its climax. Easter Season is about the resurrection of Jesus, yes.  But it is also and perhaps especially about the new life He opens up for all in the body of Christ and the unstoppable mission on which He sends us as His disciples. That mission wasn't just for "those people back there." It is for all of us here and now, in the places and among the people with whom we live and work, and everywhere and everyone our communication, influence, and resources can reach around our communities, nation, and world.

May we all be blessed as we continue in our journey towards wholeness and holiness.

Much love,

Cedric

Pastoral Letter for Lent from Cedric

Lent 2013

“So when you give to the needy…

And when you pray…

And when you fast…”

                                                                      Matthew 6:2, 5 & 16

Each year these words lead us into Lent, calling us to realign our spiritual practices (fasting, prayer, corporate acts of repentance and giving to help the poor and the needy) with their intended purposes.

Lent is a time of humbling ourselves and in an inspiring and challenging sermon a few weeks ago, one of our local preachers called on us all, ministers, leaders and members of AMC to humble ourselves before God and to confess our sin to God, particularly pride and arrogance that might have tainted our witness. I encourage you to listen to the sermon (at http://www.amc.org.za/?page_id=357  or contact the church office for a CD copy) in order to hear the message in its context.

Pride and arrogance are the primary cause of all sin, and so I want to encourage us as members of AMC in our personal prayers of confession over Lent to ask God’s Holy Spirit to convict us personally, but also corporately as the Body of Christ. Prayer of this sort will certainly humble us, and coupled with fasting, will bring great blessing. Fasting is a common way of humbling ourselves before our Lord and I would encourage us as a congregation to engage in this discipline over Lent. Perhaps consider a partial fast over the full 40 day period or perhaps a complete fast from food one day a week during Lent. Please refer to my webpage http://dentalmethodist.blogspot.com/2011/10/sermon-on-mount-9-fasting.html  for advice and tips on various types of fasting, or contact the church office for a printed copy.

So, Lent is a time of humbling ourselves, a time of fasting, and also a time of concentrated prayer.

I have received a beautiful prayer for Community Blessing from someone who recently traveled to Wales where it originated. You can visit http://www.streetpastors.co.uk/Portals/0/Street%20Pastors/In%20Use/documents/%20prayer/PrayingBlessings.pdf for more info on this prayer and praying blessings in general. An adaptation of the prayer will be available in our Info Stand and it will also be the focus of many of our prayers of intercession during Lent. I think there is something quite beautiful about a church praying blessings upon and into its community, and as part of our Lenten prayer commitment I encourage us all to use this prayer in our private prayer life…..who knows how God might choose to use our faithfulness? Please know that your AMC leaders (the folk who make up our Leaders’ Meeting) are committed to leading the way in terms of adopting these practices in our lives over Lent.

Lent is also a time of focused giving to the poor and needy and I encourage you to find some poor and needy folk (on our streets or through AMCARE) and care for them in some special way this Lenten Season.

Jesus calls us to give, to pray and to fast…May the Spirit of God lead us as individuals and as a community of Christ’s disciples to humble ourselves through giving, prayer and fasting this Lenten season and my prayer is that Lent 2013 will be a time of great blessing and spiritual growth for us all.

Much love,

Cedric

Christmas Pastoral Letter

Christmas Pastoral Letter

A child is born to us!
    A son is given to us!
    And he will be our ruler.
He will be called, “Wonderful Counselor,”
    “Mighty God,” “Eternal Father,”
    “Prince of Peace.”

From Cedric:

These words from the prophet Isaiah sum up my wish for you for Christmas 2012 and the new year that awaits us all in 2013:

May the Christ child who was born in Bethlehem, the Christ man who lived in Galilee, and the Christ King who sits at the right hand of our Father in Heaven, be born in us afresh, even now. 

He is born in us when, by faith, we simply believe that He actually can be and desires to be, born in us. He grows in us, when, by decision we let Him and His way be our ruler.....the one who rules, who reigns, over our lives. He becomes our wonderful counselor, when we let His Word, by His Spirit, counsel us. When, by faith we make this decision, we can experience Him as mighty God, eternal Father and Prince of Peace. And if I know nothing else about 2013 I know this.....we need a mighty God, an eternal Father, and a Prince of Peace if we are going to make any Kingdom progress into the new year.

I pray that we at Alberton Methodist Church may all have such faith and make such decisions as we journey together.

For Ryan, Lindrique, Dandre and Zehan:

A warm, warm welcome to AMC. Isaiah's words A child is born to us have a very special meaning for the Killian family and for the AMC family, because, to us (the Killian's and AMC) a child is going to be born. Lindrique, we wish you well over your pregnancy and look forward to having a baby in the manse again. I'm not sure when last a child was born into one of our manses, but we look forward to her or his arrival in our midst. The season of Advent has once again reminded us of the important role that waiting plays in our Kingdom life.

From Advent to Christmas to Epiphany, the seasons continue:

In my Advent pastoral letter I reminded us that Advent is the season of waiting. Now, it is the season of Christmas, which is a season of peace. During this season of peace we welcome God into our hearts, not as some distant king or moral watchdog, but as an intimate companion from heaven, ready to join us on our journey, ready to be Immanuel, God with us. Christmas is followed by the season of Epiphany, when we marvel at the revelation of God to the world in Jesus Christ. During this season, which lasts until Lent (Ash Wednesday is 13 February in 2013. In my Lent Pastoral Letter I will explain how Easter is determined each year), we are reminded that the man born to be king will rule not by force but by love, reigning not from a throne but from a cross. Gold for a king, frankincense for a priest and myrrh for the one who was to die: the gifts of the wise men foretell that he will be the true king, perfect high priest and supreme savior. Epiphany is the season of revelation. I hope that in your waiting, you may experience peace and revelation, for I have learnt that it is peace and revelation that help us to wait.

So what can we do to open up the doors to peace and revelation:

The answer to this, as to many questions, lies in our Scriptures. Therefore the first thing I want to encourage us all to do is to have a renewed commitment to reading our Bibles. To encourage us in this, Vernon is including a Bible reading schedule in his Daily Devotional Calendar which will guide us through the Bible in a year. This plan has an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading, a Psalm and one Proverb each day. It takes about 15 minutes to read and in one year, you read through the Bible. Imagine how we will grow, as individuals and as a community, if 10, or 20, or 50, or 100, or 1000 of us at AMC commit ourselves to more Bible reading.......the doors to peace and revelation will certainly open in new ways for us.

But you might feel you need more:

All our Cell groups, Bible study groups, Fellowship groups and special courses (Griefshare, Step-parenting Course, Marriage courses, Divorce Care etc) will resume in 2013. Please contact the church office for more info. Despite all our groups, the question that you may still be asking is this: "Do you have a practical plan that will help me grow in faithfulness and holiness? I have heard you say that I need to grow in spirituality, but do you have practical help for me? I really do want to be like Christ but can you tell me precisely how to go about it? Don't be vague with me - give me something that is concrete!"

Depending on your particular journey with Christ we are offering 3 such "plans" for you to choose from in 2012.

The first is Disciple:

Disciple has transformed the lives of individuals in this congregation and across the world. It has drawn people closer to God, deepened their discipleship and opens their eyes into the way that God is leading them. In 2013 we are running Disciple 1. Disciple moves through the biblical story from creation in Genesis to the New Jerusalem in Revelation. There are theme words and verses, key characters, events and topics which fix the sequence of the biblical story in the minds of the participants. Disciple is studied in a group of up to ten, with two group leaders. It meets weekly over a year (with space for holidays etc). Each group meeting begins with a time of devotion and a short DVD presentation, before questions and activities applying the Bible reading to the context of the participants' daily lives. Disciple will run on Monday evenings, repeated on Tuesday mornings, and starts on 14 January 2013.

Our second offering in terms of a "practical plan to grow spiritually" is the Alpha Course, an excellent course for people new to the Christian faith, or who you want to introduce to the Christian faith.

 If you have a friend, family member, fellow office worker who you would like to introduce to the faith, this course is for you and for them. Please see the attached leaflet for more info, click on it to enlarge.

 This course will run in the second school term for 10 weeks. I am really excited that we will actually be running 3 Alpha courses, a Youth Alpha and Adult Alpha simultaneously (so families can attend together), as well as a School Alpha which our Youth Pastor has been given permission to run at Alberton High School.

Our third offering is the Renovare Course:

Renovare comes from the Latin which means "To make new Spiritually". Following Jesus is what Renovare is all about. Each one of us will follow him in different ways but each one of us must have a practical plan for following Him. If you do not have a plan you will not stop sinning. If you do not have a plan you will not do good. If you do not have a plan you will continue to stay as you are for the rest of your life. Renovare seeks to answer the Question: "Do you have an effective practical plan which will help me to live a transformed life?" This course will run from 17 January for 8 weeks.

So, in conclusion:

A child is born to us!
    A son is given to us!
    And he will be our ruler.
He will be called, “Wonderful Counselor,”
    “Mighty God,” “Eternal Father,”
    “Prince of Peace.”

These words from the prophet Isaiah sum up my wish for you for Christmas 2012 and the new year that awaits us all in 2013:

May the Christ child who was born in Bethlehem, the Christ man who lived in Galilee, and the Christ King who sits at the right hand of our Father in Heaven, be born in us afresh, even now. 

Much love,

Cedric.